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John Lindow, Comparing Balto-Finnic and Nordic Mythologies

9. Comparing Balto-Finnic and Nordic Mythologies John Lindow, University of California, Berkeley Abstract: This paper briefly considers several points of comparison between Balto-Finnic (“Kalevaic”) and Nordic mythology: time depth; form; content, including larger structures and specific comparisons; shamanism. Although these points are easy to locate, in the end they bear little weight. However, the breadth and depth of the Balto-Finnic materials, collected as they… Read more

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Part III. Global TraditionsRichard Cole, Snorri and the Jews

Snorri and the Jews Richard Cole, University of Notre Dame Abstract: This essay considers the mythological writing of Snorri Sturluson (d. 1241) in its most temporally proximal comparative context: the intellectual culture of thirteenth century Christian Europe, specifically one particular area of the High Medieval imagination: Christian narratives about Jews. Particular attention is paid to Snorri’s use of anti-Jewish typology in his depiction of… Read more

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Mathias Nordvig, Creation from Fire in Snorri’s Edda: The Tenets of a Vernacular Theory of Geothermal Activity in Old Norse Myth

Creation from Fire in Snorri’s Edda: The Tenets of a Vernacular Theory of Geothermal Activity in Old Norse Myth Mathias Nordvig, University of Colorado, Boulder Abstract: This article argues that Snorri’s version of the creation myth in Snorri’s Edda contains imagery from volcanic activity described in terms of a “vernacular theory of geothermal activity”. The vernacular theory of geothermal activity mythologizes natural events, volcanic… Read more

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5. Breaking the Measure: Grammatisation through Prosody

5. Breaking the Measure: Grammatisation through Prosody φανήσεταί σοι λόγος εἷς εἰρόμενος Dionysius of Halicarnassus On Literary Composition 26/141.3 U-R. You will think it all one continuous piece of prose 5.0 Introduction Many verses and clusters of verses in Homer show a level of syntactical coherence over, or beyond, the boundaries of the metrical phrase, sometimes even over the boundaries… Read more

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6. General Conclusion

6. General Conclusion The rhythmical phrases prefer not to be evenly balanced, or similar in sound, or enslaved to forced repetitive sequence, no, rather to be rounded off, distinct, and freely formed. Dionysius of Halicarnassus On Literary Composition 22 Throughout the history of literature, Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey have always occupied a special position. The poet of the Iliad and the Odyssey,… Read more

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Appendix

Appendix In the Appendix, I present the result of my approach, applied to lines 1–100 of the first book of the Iliad and the first book of the Odyssey. As a sample, the analysis of the lines is representative for the Homeric epic as a whole, as is the statistical data derived from it. I have tried to visualise the patchwork-like pattern of phonological phrases through a… Read more

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Bibliography

Bibliography Allen, T. W. 1917. Homeri Opera iii2. Oxford. ———. 1919. Homeri Opera iv2. Oxford. ———. 1931. Homeri Ilias. Oxford. Allen, W. S. 1973. Accent and Rhythm: Prosodic Features of Latin and Greek. Cambridge. ———. 1987. Vox Graeca3. Cambridge. Allerton, D. J. 1982. Valency and the English Verb. London. Read more

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Foreword, Gregory Nagy and David F. Elmer

Foreword Gregory Nagy and David F. Elmer Women Weaving the World: Text and Textile in the Kalevala and Beyond, by Hanna Eilittä Psychas, was completed in December 2017. It originated as a thesis presented in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Bachelor of Arts at Harvard University. The author of Part I of the bipartite Foreword to the online edition of Women Weaving the World,… Read more

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Introduction

Introduction This project attempts to apply a poetics of weaving to literary analysis and the theatrical devising process. Taking my inheritance of weaving techniques, of the Finnish language, of family stories, and of the many cultures and experiences that have shaped who I am, I weave a story that is part of many traditions: the Kalevala stories and mythology of my maternal heritage, the rug weaving I… Read more

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Chapter One

Chapter One The place of craft within the world of art is a dynamic discussion, a long-running debate that I cannot address in full. The very contentiousness of this debate, however, is testament to the complex nature of craft and how it subverts conventional categorization. Crafts spans a vast field of workmanship, techniques, materials, and traditions, and have been perceived by scholars to contribute to, to defy,… Read more